Monthly Archives: April 2018

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I never at first ever thought about the challenges that one faced when living among a majority of people who speak a different language. It was always something on my mind, but through this experience I was able to imagine it if I was truly in these shoes. Through the YPI experience I could really feel the weight that many immigrants face everyday, that is only a mere thought to ourselves.

Through the interview process I wanted to be as articulate as I could. Sometimes I try to get my question out as fast as I can, but I took a few seconds extra and tried to fully draft a better question. The more clarity in a question, the more clarity in an answer. The more clarity in an answer, the better presentation you can make!

How might you remain engaged with your social issue or non-profit organization?

I am going to keep donating clothes to the clothing drive this week and am going to continue to get interested parties to get involved with the program. I will also continue to spread GEMS’s mission and do whatever I can to help the girls.

In what ways has your attitude toward your social issue changed over the course of the project?

I never imagined to the extent these girls were hurt. I’ve heard stories of sex trafficking but never really heard the details. My attitude changed towards my social issue because as I heard of what these girls face every day I wanted people to know that stuff like this is happening, and is happening to people our age. I wish for people to have conversations about the topic so that we might be the generation that eradicates the sex trafficking industry.

Over the course of the project I have grown more passionate about my social issue as I learned more about it. The Youth Philanthropy Initiative has given me the opportunity to learn in depth about the homeless immigrant crisis in NYC, and as a result inspired me to be try and make a difference in my own community.

In the future, I hope to get involved with organizations similar to the one my group chose that advocates for important social issues including homelessness. I would like to become a volunteer and donor and to actively support the social justice issues that I feel passionately about.

The most challenging part of this project was being able to complete our presentation beacause our organization because our first organization refused to meet with us. After doing all the research for that organization we had to find a new one and that made us fall behind a bit.

The most rewarding part was that after choosing the new organization we realized that it was a much better fit and met all of our interests.

I did not find this project a meaningful connection to our course curriculum but I did enjoy learning and doing something to help a social issue that I was passionate about.

When our history class started YPI in December, our group – Su, Bora, Rixi and myself really wanted to support a non-profit that tackled the problem of unemployment of immigrants in New York, as we believe this is the root cause of other social issue faced by immigrants (education, healthcare, housing, etc.) We were really excited to partner with the Business Center of New Americans, a nonprofit which aims to make immigrants, refugees and its other clients self-sufficient by providing access to affordable credit, empowering with financial education, and offering training in best business practices and technology. We feel BCNA offers necessary opportunities for refugees and undocumented immigrants to pursue the careers they always dreamed of and teaching them to be independent as well. As I learnt more about BCNA and how they make an impact in New York, I have also learnt so much about the astonishing statistics of unemployment and unequal pay of immigrants. I was in constant communication with Yanki Tshering, the executive director of BCNA, to learn more about its programs and services and the several people BCNA has helped change lives of. I also got to learn about the story of Alimata Zabsonre, a refugee from Burkina Faso and a BCNA client who started her own hair braiding business with help from BCNA. YPI has been really meaningful to me and I am so grateful to have been able to participate in the program because I have learnt so much about different social issues faced by immigrants, amazing non profits who do commendable work to help and how I can help make a difference. Although I have read and learnt so much about the refugee crisis and problems immigrants face in the news and other media, YPI gave me a deeper insight to the issues as I made many connections with different people.

What I found most challenging about the project was that some people could not get along until the last week of preparation, but what I did find most rewarding was that in the end the people in my group were able to come together and present an amazing presentation. I might remain engaged with my non-profit organization by doing a summer activity.

My attitude to the issue of education of immigrants has definitely become stronger, as I have had the time to really dive deep into the subject matter. I had the chance to talk to immigrants who have received a scholarship through The Dream.US and was truly moved by their experience.

I remain engaged in this issue because I will be sending the signed documents that we presented in our presentation to Dreamers all over the United States, and we plan to stay in contact with the Dream.US.

I truly enjoyed my time taking part in the Youth Philanthropy Initiative, and I really hope to stay engaged in the issue of education for all.

My attitude towards homelessness changed after this project. I used to only think about homelessness when I saw an actual homeless person. Because of this I didn’t think of it as the giant issue that it was. Now I think about the homeless more, which makes it more important in my mind.

I didn’t really gain any communication skills while doing this project.

i found the most challenging part of my time trying to deal with the two members of my group that couldn’t stop arguing until the last week that we had to work on the project. The most rewarding part is when it all still worked out and the fights were in the past.

I’m not sure that I’m going to stay connected with this organization. While my group is doing a school drive and visiting once more in the following month, after that I don’t think I will keep involved.

I had never realised until participating in this project how widespread these issues are, even in the New York community, which I had previoulsy believed had very few of these issues.

Over the course of this project I had to learn how to effectively communicate with my group mates over the course of the project, as well as arrange a meeting with the organisation and interview members of the organisation.

It was very challenging arranging a time in which we could meet with the organisation, and it was very difficult preparing for the final presentation.